Early Ice Crappie Fishing

Well we were out crappie fishing on early ice, on Big Sandy Lake, near McGregor. I was out with CK and friends from CKOutdoors.com It was their first get together of the ice fishing season and it was fun. Otter Outdoors and Wilcraft were there and the ice was perfect with nearly 7 inches of ice and crappies averaging 10-11 inches, with the biggest crappie topping 12 inches.

After a week of sub zero weather the ice is building and was safe, we were lucky and the weather warmed up just in time for this outing. Perfect cold to build great ice and then mild weather for fishing. You can't ask for more than that.

The top bait was a jig, actually The J.I.G. CK lives by it and definitely had the most crappies going and the biggest crappie of the day, for most of the day too. We fished it without bait, for real, the tiny jigs bounce around with any movement and the fish take them. You need to have a spring bobber on your ice rod, but that's a great addition to any ice angler's gear. It will let you know whenever the fish pick it up.

Lots of people were out and it looked like a small fishing village on the ice. If you can make one, I suggest you check it out. If you're new to ice fishing, don't worry, they will share how to do it and show you how. And if you need, drill you some holes to get you going.

Well off to prepare for more fishing. Take care and be careful, especially on the ice.